Squealing/Grinding Noise

[guest5193]

Hi all,

I have a Honda jazz 1.4 SE sport, on 109,000 miles.
I've been having this noise which is quite noisy, sounds like something grinding/ squealing. 
Had the noise for about 2 weeks now but has gradually got worse.
When I am driving round the sound is coming from the front wheel, drivers side.
When the car starts to squeal if I apply the brake pedal the loud squeal dies down while the brake is on. But when I lift off the brake pedal, the noise comes back on. 
The noise isn't on all the time its very intermittent, on for a few minutes, then off for a few minutes, or seconds.
So I inspected the wheel to see it is a wheel bearing that had gone, but it seemed fine.

Not really sure what it was, so I've just signed up to see if I can find some answers.
Thanks.

[guest5117]

I am not technical minded but from past experience, could it be
1. rusting/ pitted disc brakes?
2. sticking calliper?


I had something similar on another car before. Mechanics were unable to find the cause when they took the wheel off. It used to be OK for some time after their inspection then used to come back in a couple of days. After sometime I stooped going to mechanic and one day miraculously the noise stopped and never came back.

[madasafish]

Modern disk pads have a wear indicator section which makes a noise when pads are very worn. Sound like that to me. New pads asap or £££s new disks as well. And safety danger.

[bill888]

Just a suggestion.  Check if a small stone has perhaps got trapped between the inward facing side of the brake disc and the large round metal backing plate. 

Otherwise, it sounds like worn brake pads as pointed out by madasafish.

[Bentleymop]

Jack the car up & take off one wheel at a time,spin the hub by hand & you should hopefully hear/see where the noise is roughly coming from.

My Mrs came home a few months ago & said the car was making a grinding noise,drove it briefly & it was one hell of a racket.Jacked car up one side at a time & span each hub.replaced wheels & gave it another drive,no noise.
I did ring the dealer who couldn`t look at it for 3 days but did suggest the AA.
I did call them out  ( just to make sure ) & tech said it probably was a stone caught in the disc & by taking the wheel off I`d got it out,no damage or scoring had been done

[VicW]

Having had a similar problem I would suspect a sticking brake caliper piston.

When it happened to me the noise was a loud whirring/vibrating noise.

Vic.

[guest4512]

Does sound like what's been mentioned already.

To check if the caliper is sticking,  feel the disc after a short drive,  it will be super hot.

[culzean]

possibly a stone between disc and pad - I had it happen once (a bit of bluestone grit from road re-surfacing) and with amount of noise I thought the wheel was going to drop off.

otherwise there is a piece of metal on the pads which is designed to make a squeal when pads get below about 1.6mm I think.

Pads are meant to self-centre themselves onto the disc using a couple of bearings (with concertina rubber gaiters over the shaft to stop water getting in), if these gaiters have become damaged or not fitted back properly and water and/or dirt has got in then pads don't move properly and a sticky caliper can happen, pad and disc would get very hot, and you would notice a visible difference in uneven wear on pads.

[philskynet]

just had this problem after replacing the discs and pads.   .bent the stone/heat shields back and it was still grinding...turned out the o/s disc was slightly catching on the calliper carrier...small bit of grinding sorted that problem out